Discovery of oil Kirkuk

baba gurgur

in 1927, iraqi , american drillers working foreign-owned , british-led iraq petroleum company (ipc) struck huge oil gusher @ baba gurgur ( st. blaze or father blaze in kurdish) near kirkuk. ipc began exports kirkuk oil field in 1934. company moved headquarters tuz khormatu camp on outskirts of kirkuk, named arrapha after ancient city. arrapha remains large neighborhood in kirkuk day. ipc exercised significant political power in city , played central role in kirkuk s urbanization, initiating housing , development projects in collaboration iraqi authorities in 1940s , 1950s.

the presence of oil industry had effect on kirkuk s demographics. exploitation of kirkuk s oil, began around 1930, attracted both arabs , kurds city in search of work. kirkuk, had been predominantly turkmen city, gradually lost uniquely turkmen character. @ same time, large numbers of kurds mountains settling in uninhabited cultivable rural parts of district of kirkuk. influx of kurds kirkuk continued through 1960s. according 1957 census, kirkuk city 37.63% iraqi turkmen, 33.26% kurdish arabs , assyrians making less 23% of population.

some analysts believe poor reservoir-management practices during saddam hussein years may have seriously, , permanently, damaged kirkuk s oil field. 1 example showed estimated 1,500,000,000 barrels (240,000,000 m) of excess fuel oil being reinjected. other problems include refinery residue , gas-stripped oil. fuel oil reinjection has increased oil viscosity @ kirkuk making more difficult , expensive oil out of ground.

over all, between april 2003 , late december 2004 there estimated 123 attacks on iraqi energy infrastructures, including country s 7,000 km-long pipeline system. in response these attacks, cost iraq billions of dollars in lost oil-export revenues , repair costs, military set task force shield guard iraq s energy infrastructure , kirkuk-ceyhan oil pipeline in particular. in spite of fact little damage done iraq s oil fields during war itself, looting , sabotage after war ended highly destructive , accounted perhaps eighty percent of total damage.

the discovery of vast quantities of oil in region after world war provided impetus annexation of former ottoman vilayet of mosul (of kirkuk region part), iraqi kingdom, established in 1921. since , particularly 1963 onwards, there have been continuous attempts transform ethnic make-up of region.

pipelines kirkuk run through turkey ceyhan on mediterranean sea , 1 of 2 main routes export of iraqi oil under oil-for-food programme following gulf war of 1991. in accordance united nations mandate @ least 50% of oil exports pass through turkey. there 2 parallel lines built in 1977 , 1987.